1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gloves. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multiple, long-term use latex-based glove having an antimicrobial agent homogeneously incorporated therein. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing such a glove.
Gloves typically used in medical, food preparation, and household applications are commonly manufactured from highly elastomeric materials, such as, for example, natural rubber latex, synthetic rubber, resin, polymer, and combinations thereof. Inherent with gloves, and particularly long-term use gloves, is the problem of moisture from the user's hands and other sources, becoming trapped inside the glove. The glove is removed after use and typically stored in a dark, warm place such as a drawer, a cabinet, or a closet. The combination of moisture, organic matter, warmth, and lack of light creates an ideal environment for the growth of microbial entities. In addition, long-term use gloves are commonly used in applications where the outside of the glove comes in contact with microbial entities, which remain on the glove after use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There exist prior art patents that are directed to antimicrobial gloves for use in the medical and food preparation fields. Representative examples of these patents, noted below, disclose a number of different techniques for imparting antimicrobial activity into gloves used for medical and food preparation applications. The typical use pattern of the gloves also dictates the form of protection required, as does the general single-use characteristic of the medical and/or food preparation gloves. These factors subsequently influence the modalities employed in the production of antimicrobial medical and food preparation gloves.
Gloves worn by medical practitioners, such as surgeons, nurses and other medical or paramedical personnel, are typically manufactured from extremely thin elastomeric materials such as natural or synthetic rubbers. Medical gloves are typically used only once; therefore long-term storage is not an issue. The objective of many of the antimicrobial medical gloves is the immediate protection of both the patient and the user from the spread and transmission of disease.
There are a variety of methods employed to accomplish this goal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,205 provides an antimicrobial glove manufactured by the partial forming of a glove, the dipping of the partially formed glove into a solution containing an antimicrobial agent, and the subsequent curing of the glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,565 provides an antimicrobial glove made by forming a first layer of latex, forming a second layer by dipping the first layer into antimicrobial material, then forming a third layer of latex on top of the first two layers with subsequent curing to produce the finished multi-layer glove.
In another type of antimicrobial medical glove, antimicrobial agents are coated directly on one or more surfaces of the glove itself. The antimicrobial agent is utilized either alone, or in a carrier. U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,205 provides for the coating of either a cured or non-cured glove with an anionic surfactant-neutralized, cationic antimicrobial agent prior to the stripping of the final glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,245 provides the incorporation of a non-ionic antimicrobial agent (triclosan) in a glove material prior to forming the glove. In addition, it also provides a powder having another antimicrobial agent dusted on the inner surface of the glove.
Another form of incorporating antimicrobial agents within single-use medical or food preparation gloves is to form the gloves from a material containing an antimicrobial agent, in which the agent migrates from in the structure of the glove to the glove's outer surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,867 provides the homogeneous incorporation of a cationic antimicrobial agent within a synthetic polymer from which a glove is formed. The polymer is a plastisol composition that allows the outward migration of the antimicrobial agent to replenish the outer surface of the glove during use.
While U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,867 provides for migration of the antimicrobial agent to the surface of the glove, other prior art references disclose the permanent incorporation of a particular antimicrobial agent in the structure of the medical or food preparation glove. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,605 provides a glove formed by premixing the antimicrobial agent 2,4,4′-trichloro-2′ hydroxydiphenyl ether (triclosan) into a natural rubber latex. Subsequently, a medical use glove is formed from the mixture. The incorporation of a sparingly water-soluble, non-ionic antimicrobial agent into a single-use medical glove is said to provide antimicrobial protection for only 6 to 8 hours to the wearer of the glove.
Therefore, what is clearly needed, and not contemplated by the prior art, is a multiple, long-term use latex-based glove having an antimicrobial agent homogeneously incorporated in the material of the glove. The antimicrobial agent is present in the glove in an effective amount as to significantly, or all together, inhibit the growth of microbial entities and/or fungi on all surfaces of the glove. In addition, it is believed that the antimicrobial agent is present in an amount that also provides an antimicrobial effect on the surfaces contacted by the glove.